Reading The Lightning Thief
by RiderWriter
Summary: The gods and demigods get together to read The Lightning Thief! I may only be updating in pieces; but I'll try to update quickly! Annabeth, Percy, Thalia, and Nico. Hope you enjoy, please read and REVIEW! (Not really sure why it's rated T but may include some cursing later on)
1. Chapter 1

Percy, Nico, Annabeth, and Thalia were all at a pizza parlor in New York, celebrating their victory in the Battle of Manhattan. Just as their pizza arrived and they were about to dig in, a brilliant white light enveloped them all and they disappeared.

********LINE BREAK ********

Meanwhile on Olympus during the Winter Solstice, the gods were arguing, Again.

Aphrodite was admiring her reflection in her hand mirror, oblivious to Hephaestus's and Ares's attempts to gain her attention.

Hera was yelling at Zeus and Dionysus for running off after yet _another_ nymph (you'd think they'd learn after centuries of the same lecture, wouldn't you?) while Zeus was daydreaming and Dionysus was reading a wine magazine, not a care in the world.

Poseidon and Athena were fighting once again about whether it was fair or not that Athena got Athens.

Demeter was in the middle of another heated argument with Hades about the pros and cons of having cereal every day, while poor Persephone and Hestia were talking quietly by the hearth, discussing many different things. Suddenly all of this was interrupted when a bright white light flashed through the entire room, and when it vanished, it left four very confused teenagers standing in the middle of the throne room. Many looked on in annoyance, surprise, and one look of kindness (hi, Hestia)

"WHO DARES TRESPASS ON OLYMPUS! DURING THE WINTER SOLSTICE NO LESS!" Zeus bellowed. _Ahh _was the thought going on in the demigod's heads _that explains why Hades is here_ (**A/N I realize I have no excuse for Persephone, but cut me some slack)**.

"WHO ARE YOU?" Nico, Percy, and Annabeth shared a glance before shoving Thalia out to greet him. She glared at them, her eyes saying _"I'll get you later." _They all gulped simultaneously.

"Lord Zeus," Thalia carefully began, wary of her father. "You don't recognize us?" His expression remained blank, "Wait, what year is it?"

"2004, why do you ask, child?" Answered Hesia. Thalia suddenly had a look of distress on her face as she turned to her best friend and cousins.

"Guys, please don't tell me we weren't-"

"We were." Annabeth answered.

"Wait, we were what?" Asked Percy and Nico, clueless as ever.

"We were sent back in time." The girls answered at the same time. But suddenly another bright light appeared, and conversation stopped.


	2. Chapter 2

Instead of people though, the bright light left behind five books and a note resting neatly on top. While most everyone stared at the books in confusion, Thalia smirked and shoved Percy towards the stack of books.

"Hey!" He said indignantly as Thalia shrugged innocently. Everyone snickered as he huffed and nonetheless grabbed the note and read it aloud.

_Dear gods and demigods,_

_Wassup! Apollo and Hermes here, the awesomest gods ever. And to the past us's: Keep doing whatever you're doing and stay cool ;)_

_No one is allowed to harm or kill the demigods, and demigods, no harming or making the gods fade._

_But on another note, we got permission from the fates to let you guys read some books about a butt-kicking demigod named Percy Jackson. Peace out!_

_Apollo and Hermes_

_P.S Sorry guys, but you have to introduce yourselves now. Full titles, and that means you Percy!_

Percy stopped reading with a blush on his face. The demigods laughed at his discomfort as he stuck out his tongue at them.

"Well? Introduce yourselves!" Zeus commanded. This time Nico pushed Annabeth forward, not wanting to go first.

"Oh no you don't Di Angelo!" Annabeth said turning directly around and pushing him forward instead. He had the complete attention of all well-known gods/goddesses, even his father.

"Nico Di Angelo, Son of Hades. BUT I was raised in the Lotus Hotel and Casino, so my dad didn't break the oath. Also I'm ghost king, and killer of a whole lot of monsters." Hades tried to hide the look of pleasure on his face but Nico could still see it, and smiled at his father. Zeus still looked slightly miffed at Hades but looked towards Annabeth for her title.

"Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena, Wanderer of the Labyrinth, Bearer of the Sky, Sailer of the Sea of Monsters, and Official Architect of Olympus." Athena smiled with pride but then frowned, a though occurring to her.

"Why would Olympus need an architect?" She asked.

"I'm sure it's in these books." Her daughter replied. Thalia interrupted, wanting to get this over with.

"Thalia Grace, Daughter of Zeus," Zeus recieved glaring from Poseidon, Hades, and Hera. "And Official Lieutenant of The Hunters of Artemis." Artemis looked happy and distressed at the same time, wondering what happened to Zoë. Percy pouted.

"Do I have to do it?" He complained.

"Come on Seaweed Brain, I did it, now you do it." She said and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"_EEK!"_ Aphrodite screamed, almost shattering the windows. "I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I _KNEW _IT!" She chanted.

_As long as he's not Sea Spawn, I'll deal with it_. Thought Athena.

"Yes darling, you knew it. Lets move along, shall we?" Hephaestus offered Aphrodite, looking directly at Percy. He got the hint, sighed, and started speaking.

"My name is Percy Jackson, Son of Poseidon," Chaos erupted. Poseidon was overjoyed, Athena was in shock, Zeus and Hades were enraged, so was Hera for that matter, but only because he cheated on Amphitrite.

Hestia looked at the scene and seeing as she was peacemaker, shouted, "STOP!". Everyone froze, they had never seen her talk so loudly.

"Please everyone, at least let the child finish his introductions. And the note said not to hurt anyone. And the quicker we go the faster we'll finish." She concluded. With five heavy sighs, they settled down again, but Athena glared at Percy for good measure. He cleared his throat.

"Right. So, Son of Poseidon, Retriever of the Lightning Bolt, Defeater of the Minotaur twice, Defeater of Alecto, Defeater of Ares, Sailer of the Sea of Monsters, Finder of the Golden Fleece, Bearer of the Sky, Defeater of the Nemean Lion, Wanderer of the Labyrinth, and Defeater of Hyperion, Iepetus, and Kronos. **(A/N Sorry if I missed anything. Tell me if I did)** The god's jaws dropped.

"YEAH! That's MY boy!" Bragged Poseidon, hopping off his throne and coming over to deliver a bone-crushing hug to his son. Hera coughed.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but we might want to start reading the books." Poseidon blushed and sat back in his seat.

"What's the first book, dear?" Demeter asked Annabeth.

"The Lightning Thief." She answered as she picked up the book.

"You may start reading, daughter." Athena granted. And so the reading began.


	3. Chapter 3

**I OWN NOTHING. THE CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY AND THE BOOKS BEING READ ARE OWNED BY RICK RIORDAN, NOT ME.**

"Chapter one: **I Accidentally Vaporize my Pre-Algebra Teacher**" Annabeth started. Well, tried to start. Apollo and Hermes ended up laughing about the title, leaving Artemis once again without a doubt in her mind that all males were idiots.

"Ahem. Lord Apollo. Lord Hermes. May I continue?" They nodded, finally settling down.

"**Look, I don't want to be a half-blood."**

"Do we ever?" Thalia asked bitterly as the gods wondered if their life was that bad.

"**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:"**

"CLOSE THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW!" Nico screamed, causing Annabeth the drop the book in surprise. The gods looked confused.

"Why would we need to close the book?" Athena asked, actually confused for once.

"Well, never listen to Percy's advice." Nico continued, despite Percy's protests. "It gets you killed most of the time. The other half of the time where it doesn't get you killed is when Annabeth is helping him." Percy muttered something about useless friends and gestured for Annabeth to start reading. She picked up the book and started again.

"**Close this book right now."**

"Hey look! We had the same advice!" Nico stated.

"In _totally _different context." Percy protested.

"Still counts."

"Does not"

"Does to"

"Does-"

"ENOUGH!" Demeter exploded. "Please! Stop for the sake of sanity!" They stopped fighting, but not before Nico muttered, "I won." Annabeth wisely kept reading.

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways. **The gods now looked worried as their children were nodding through the entire thing. _Is it really that bad?_ They wondered guiltily.

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened. But if you recognize yourself in these pages-if you feel something stirring inside-stop reading immediately. You might be one of us.**

"Ya _think_?" Nico asked sarcastically. Percy punched him in the shoulder.

**And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before **_**they **_**sense it too, and they'll come for you. Don't say I didn't warn you. **Annabeth tried to read on quickly, knowing what was coming, but she wasn't fast enough.

"You didn't warn _me_!" Nico, Thalia, Apollo, and Hermes said. Artemis just groaned and calmly whack Apollo and Hermes on the head. Annabeth did the same to Thalia and Percy to Nico.

**My name is Percy Jackson. I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York. Am I a troubled kid?**

"YES!" Shouted Nico, Thalia, and Annabeth. Percy hit the one that was closest to him, who just so happened to be Thalia. Lets just say what he got was a bit of a _shock _to him **(A/N Just letting you know there will probably be a lot of lame puns in here, 'cause I'm like that ****) **.

**Yeah. You could say that.**

"He admits it!" Apollo shouted in Hermes's ear.

"Dude! A little loud here." He shouted back.

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it**

"Short?" Asked Hestia, concerned.

"Miserable?" Squeaked Poseidon

**But things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan – twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

"That sounds wonderful!" Athena stated happily.

"No it doesn't! It sounds like torture!" Poseidon contradicted.

**I know – it sounds like torture**

"Like father like son." Persephone said, smiling at Percy while Nico glared at his step-mother.

**Most Yancy field trips were.**

"Oh, joy." Poseidon mumbled sarcastically

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.**

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair.**

"Idea!" Hephaestus said and pulled out a notebook and scribbled something in it.

"You have a notebook too?" Aphrodite exclaimed pulling out a notebook labled _Perf Couples_. "Great minds think alike!" She said as she hugged him, not noticing Ares silently fuming.

**He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

"Oh, Chiron" They all sighed, except for Athena, who look scandalized at the thought of sleeping during class.

"Only you, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth said and came over next to him, holding his hand, while Percy had a goofy grin on his face.

**I hoped this trip would be okay. At least, I hoped for once I wouldn't get in trouble.** Ares snorted.

"Not gonna happen, punk."

**Boy, was I wrong.**

Ares smirked. Percy glared. Ares wet his pants.

**See, bad things happen to me when I go field trips.**

Ares, Hera, Zeus, and Hades leaned forward in anticipation. While Annabeth looked mildly concerned, but she knew he could handle himself

**Like at my fifth – grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyways.**

Everyone burst out laughing. Even Hades cracked a smile. Well, until Persephone started tickling him, causing him to start rolling on the ground in laughter.

"Your kid is gold Uncle P!" Apollo shouted.

"Pure GOLD!" Hermes finished, laughing. Percy blushed as anyone laughed, but Annabeth squeezed his hand in reassurance and soon he was laughing as well. After everyone calmed down, Annabeth started reading again.

**And before that**

"Ooh! There's another one!" Apollo squealed and Artemis slapped him on the head for interrupting again.

**At my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, and I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim.**

Again, everyone started laughing.

"Please, you liked that, didn't you?" Annabeth whispered in Percy's ear. He just smiled that sarcastic smile and she felt her heart flutter. She gave him a quick peck on the lips and continued reading.

**And the time before that… well, you get the idea.**

Hermes snickered and Nico and Thalia grinned at Percy thinking one word. _Blackmail_.

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

Ares snorted.

"That's no fun kid."

"Percy's plenty of fun." Annabeth defended, "He just wants to stay in school to learn. Right, Perce?"

"Uh, yeah…"

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwhich.**

"Eww!" Aphrodite scrunched up her nose. At the same time Percy's hands balled into fists think about Nancy. Having noticed this, Annabeth put her hand on his shoulder. He looked at her and relaxed, but Thalia did not. Her entire body was tensed. No one messed with Goat Boy. No one.

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some sort of muscular disease in his legs. **

"Can you say _MAKEOVER!?_" Aphrodite shrieked.

"What a nice way to defend your friend." Hera said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Telling it like it is!" Percy defended. Smiling at her silly boyfriend, Annabeth continued.

**He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should have seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

"Way to blow your cover!" Hermes groaned.

"My satyrs are perfectly fine!" Dionysus snapped, surprising everyone.

"You-you have _feelings_?" Poseidon gasped dramatically. Artemis and Athena rolled their eyes at his antics.

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her**

"Wh-y-y?" Ares complained. Aphrodite sniffed her nose in disgust.

""Such a child." She said before snuggling up to Hephaestus, who was not complaining.

**Because I was already on probation.**

"Oh." Ares said, glancing at Aphrodite and Hephaestus.

**The headmaster had threatened me with death**

"WHAT!" Poseidon and Annabeth screamed.

**By in-school suspension**

"Oh." They both said. Mildly embarrassed. Percy smiled at his dad and kissed Annabeth on the top of her head. Athena and Artemis looked on in disgust of the girl and boy in love. While Poseidon didn't necessarily approve of the relationship, it made his son happy, so he was fine with Annabeth.

**If anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

"**I'm going to kill her." I mumbled.**

"DO IT!" Ares said, and Hades cracked a slight smile.

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."**

"Not in your hair." Thalia and Mr. D growled.

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch. **

"**That's it." I started to get up**

"Go Percy!" The room cheered him on.

**But Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

"Party pooper." Apollo, Hermes, Nico, and Ares muttered.

"**You're already on probation." He reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything bad happens."**

Poseidon growled.

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd deck Nancy Bobofit right then and there.**

"So do we." Ares grumbled.

**In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

"Great. Just great." Poseidon moaned, while the goddesses (except Aretemis) looked at him in pity.

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour. He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey gallaries,**

"Echoey isn't a word." Athena said disdainfully. Percy grinned sheepishly while Annabeth glared at her mom.

**Past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery. It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

Athena now smiled a bit, as did Hestia and Persephone.

**He gathered up around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top.**

Annabeth shuddered at the reminder of the sphinx, and Percy pulled her a little closer.

**And started telling us how it was a grave marker, a **_**stele**_**, for a girl about our age.**

"Oh, Samantha. She had a beautiful grave marker." Aphrodite said wistfully, recalling her past daughter. They had a moment of silence for the daughter of Aphrodite while Hephaestus and Ares did their best to comfort her.

**He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting,**

Athena again smiled a bit. Maybe he was alright for his daughter.

**But everyone around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye. **

Poseidon growled.

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to drive a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

"Yeah. Nervous breakdown. Sure." Thalia said. Nico on the other hand looked immediately towards Hades, his eyes asking a question. Hades nodded in conformation. Hades was wondering why he sent Alecto after Percy. Hmm…

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn.**

"No, that's Nico, silly!" Thalia exclaimed.

"You'd think she'd know the difference, considering who she worked for…" Nico said, ignoring the previous comment.

**She would point her crooked little finger at me and say, "Now, honey", real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

Most everyone groaned. Nico and Hades did so for a different reason.

"Still with the 'honey' thing?" Hades asked his son, as Nico nodded grimly in reply.

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

"GROVER!" Thalia complained along with Hermes and Apollo.

"Okay, I admit he may not be the best for this particular job." Dionysus mumbled.

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

"Chiron! Don't you realize the _agony _my son is in?!" Poseidon reprimanded.

"And they say Zeus is the dramatic one." Persephone whispered to Hestia.

"It runs in the family, dear." She replied, holding back a giggle.

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the **_**stele**_**, and I turned around and said, "Will you **_**shut up**_**?"**

"Yeah! Go Perce!" Apollo shouted. Artemis was angry about how Percy would talk to a girl like that, but then she remembered who the girl was. Instead she smiled in encouragement to the 'Book Percy'.

**It came out louder than I meant to.**

"Of course it did Seaweed Brain." Annabeth sighed.

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story. "Mister Jackson," he said, "Did you have a comment?" My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

Thalia and Nico snorted at their cousin's behavior.

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the **_**stele**_**. "Perhaps you'd like to tell us what this picture represents?" I felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it.**

"A boy? Knowing something? Impossible!" Artemis said not-so-teasingly, and Apollo good-naturedly bumped her on the shoulder. He got a slap on the check in return.

"Ow." He muttered.

"**That's Kronos eating eating his kids, right?" **

"It just _had _to be that one, didn't it?" Hades grumbled as Aphrodite and Zeus smirked. Easy for them to do, _they _never had to live in Kronos' stomach.

"**Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because…"**

"**Well…" I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and-"**

"How dare he! I've never been so insulted in my life!" Zeus thundered.

"Dad, chill." Thalia said and her half-brother Apollo beamed at her.

"I'm sure he's corrected." Annabeth said. "You are corrected, right?" She mumbled into Percy's ear. He gave her a lopsided grin and nodded his head.

"**God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

Annabeth sighed in relief.

"Honestly Wise Girl, have more faith in me." Percy teased. She playfully slapped him on the shoulder but was soon cradling her hand do to his iron skin.

"**Titan," I corrected myself. "And… he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead."**

"You know brother, you do bear a _remarkable _resemblance to a rock." Hades commented.

"Yes. The shape of your head is just right." Poseidon joined in. Then all the gods fell to laughing at Zeus's red face.

"Let's just move on, shall we?" He said, gesturing towards Annabeth. Smiling, she continued.

"**And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos,"**

Zeus smiled smugly.

"**Into barfing up his brothers and sisters-"**

"**Eeew!" Said one of the girls behind me.**

"Oh please." Hera huffed. "You didn't have to live there." Artemis just shook her head at the immature girls. _My Hunters are_ much _better_. She thought.

" – **and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "And the gods won."**

Nico gaped at him. "In a few sentences, you just summed up-"

"The biggest battle in history." Thalia finished.

"He is truly a son of yours, Fish Face." Athena said. Poseidon however took this as a complement and he beamed at his son, who smiled back.

**Some snickers from the group. Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids'."**

Athena snapped her fingers. "It says that now, disrespectful mortal girl." Annabeth smiled at her mother.

"**And why, Mr. Jackson," Mr. Brunner said, "To paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

"_Busted_!" Apollo and Hermes sang.

"**Busted," Grover muttered.**

"Ahh! We think like a goat! We think like a goat!" Apollo and Hermes said, running around and screaming, "Red alert! Red alert!"

"Boys. BOYS!" Artemis screamed to have their attention. "He's not a goat."

"Really?" They both sighed in relief.

"He's half-goat." She smirked as they continued running around screaming. Suddenly Ares snapped his fingers and they were tied up to their respective thrones.

"What?" He said, "I want to get to the action."

"There's plenty of action later." Percy mumbled.

"**Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face brighter red than her hair. At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

"Like a horse's ears, perhaps?" Hermes asked.

"Good one, dude!" Apollo hive-fived him as Artemis and Hera rolled their eyes in disgust.

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

"**I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine,"**

Apollo's head snapped up. Suddenly a bowl of mustard and wine appeared in front of him. He mixed it up and took a gulp with everyone watching the grown god's antics. Suddenly he ran out the door and retching noises could be heard from inside. He came back in and said, "That. Was. AWESOME! It made me barf, but AWESOME!" Everyone, even Hermes, just shook their heads and looked to Annabeth.

"**Which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely in the Titan's stomach."**

Hades shivered. "Childhood = ruined." He said.

"**The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest park of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

"Happy note?" Dionysus questioned.

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.**

"They are doofuses." Artemis said.

"I was agreeing with you, Lady Artemis." Percy replied, and Artemis's face went red as she realized this.

"Baby sis, you just got burned!" Apollo teased. He now has a black eye. Ah, one big happy family.

**Grover and I were about to follow them when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson." I knew what was coming. I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. **

"**Sir?" Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go – intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

"Longer." Annabeth commented.

"I know that now, Wise Girl." Percy said, gripping her hand.

"**You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

"**About the Titans?:**

"**About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

"**Oh."**

"That was such a typical Percy answer." Thalia teased and Percy stuck his tongue out at her.

"**What you learn from me," He said, " is vitally important."**

"Well don't _you _think highly of yourself." Nico grumbled.

"Shh." Annabeth said.

"**I expect you to treat it as such. I will only accept the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

"He's my son. He will deliver the best." Poseidon said encouragingly. Athena was about to say something, a snarky comment no doubt, but was cut off by a warning glare by Annabeth.

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

"It's for the best, child." Hestia said softly and Percy smiled at one of the only goddess's he had complete respect for.

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshiped.**

"That's brilliant!" Athena exclaimed and pulled out a notebook and wrote something down. Aphrodite, seeing this, squealed, "You have a notebook _too_?! You can join our notebook club!" Gesturing to herself and Hephaestus. Athena smiled at the offer but out of the corner of her eye sent Annabeth a silent message: _Read!_

**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C- in my life.**

Annabeth and Athena gasped.

"I'm tutoring you more starting after this visit!" Annabeth said to Percy.

"Fine." He said, "As long as _you _tutor me." And gave her a kiss.

"WOAH! Keep it PG guys!" Nico screamed. They blushed and Annabeth continued to read.

**No- he expected me to be **_**better**_**. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

Poseidon looked at his son, wishing he knew how to comfort him.

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the **_**stele**_**, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

"He was." Aphrodite sniffled at the reminder of her daughter. Hephaestus hugged her, and Ares seethed.

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AGAIN, THESE CHARACTARS ALL BELONG TO RICK RIORDAN, NOT ME. THE BOOK THEY ARE READING BELONGS TO RICK RIORDAN, NOT ME.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue. Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city.**

"Wow. What got you so made this time, dad?" Artemis asked. Zeus replied with a shrug of his shoulders, as confused as anyone else.

**I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding,**

Everyone turned to look at Poseidon, who looked just as befuddled. The demigods snickered at the confused look on everyone's faces.

**Wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

"Oh, you two have done it now!" Demeter scolded.

"Finally!" Ares cheered.

**Nobody else seemed to notice.**

"How could you not notice that?" Dionysus said in disdain. "Ignorant mortals."

**Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers.**

Artemis growled.

**Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something form a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

"You know what, if she one of your kids, Hermes?" Hera asked.

"WHAT?! I hope to gods not!" He replied.

**Grover and I sat at the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from **_**that**_** school-the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

Poseidon, Hestia, and Annabeth frowned.

"Do you really feel that way?" Annabeth asked, concerned.

"Not anymore." He said and pulled her into his lap. Annabeth quickly started reading again, hoping no one noticed the blush on her cheeks.

"**Detention?" Grover asked.**

"**Nah," I said. "Not from Mr. Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean-I'm not a genius."**

"Oh, we know!" Thalia laughed.

"He may not be a child of Athena," Annabeth started, and Athena looking disgusted, "But do you have any idea how many times his 'stupid' plans saved our butts?" Thalia grudgingly agreed.

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to make some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?".**

Everyone cracked up, especially the ones that knew Grover personally. Hades and Dionysus each cracked a smile, and Apollo and Hermes were downright laughing on the floor.

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him have it.**

"You know," Demeter started, " You should start packing cereal instead. Cereal and farming, yes, the effect is immediate…" Annabeth started again before the lecture began.

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. **

"Mama's boy." Ares coughed.

"You would be too-" Annabeth said.

"If you had a mom like Mrs. Jackson" Nico finished. Poseidon beamed when he heard how good a mother Sally was.

**She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again.**

Apollo and Hermes started looking apprehensive, seeing the kids potential to be a top-notch trouble maker. Little did they know, he already is.

**I wouldn't be able to stand that look she'd give me.**

"Mama's-" Ares was cut off by four intense glares, Poseidon also defending his son. Ares shrunk in his throne and waited for the reading to continue.

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized café table.**

Hephaestus whipped out his notebook, much to Aphrodite's delight.

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich**

"Not cereal, I see." Demeter ridiculed. Everyone rolled their eyes, especially Hades and Persephone.

**When Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends-I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists-and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

"**Oops." She said.**

Dionysus, Percy and Thalia growled. Annabeth gripped Percy's hand, instantly calming him.

**She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her entire face with liquid Cheetos.**

"Mental image!" Aphrodite squealed in disgust.

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. **

Hestia, Hera, Annabeth and Persephone smiled at how protective he was of his friends.

**A wave roared in my ears.**

Poseidon grinned, knowing what was coming.

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!".**

Poseidon gave Percy a look of pride.

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us. Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see-"**

"**-The water-**

"**-Like it grabbed her-"**

"Wicked!" Nico yelled, staring at Percy. Percy started to get uncomfortable with the staring, but stopped squirming when Annabeth leaned against his chest.

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

"Operative word: _again_." Persephone laughed lightly.

"Percy's _is _a trouble magnet. But he always gets out of it. _Always_." Annabeth said.

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds made sure that poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in he eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester.**

""Monster!" Everyone yelled.

"FINALLY!" Ares screamed. "Where's some action when you need it?" He asked no one in particular. Everyone ignored him.

"**Now, honey-"**

Nico and Hades gulped, knowing what was about to happen.

"**I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**

"Never guess your punishment! Rule number 11!" Hermes shouted out. Needless to say, he got a _few_ weird looks.

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

"Rule number 11." Hermes huffed.

"**Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

"**Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me! **_**I **_**pushed her."**

"Such a brave friend." Hestia said.

"Such a brave satyr" Dionysus said.

"Such a brave Goat Boy." Nico and Thalia.

"Such a stupid goat." Percy and Annabeth said endearingly.

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

"Scares me, too." Nico grumbled so no one else could hear.

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

Most everyone (except Ares) was so angry they were ready to go over there and blast this monster apart, no matter what it was. Even Athena looked ready to burst. That satyr had helped her daughter get to camp safely, and she had grown to like him.

"**I don't think so, Mr. Underwood." She said.**

"**But-"**

"Still protesting to save his friend?" Hera said, "This is what a _true _family should be like. Well, maybe if you got down with him first, Aphrodite? From the sounds of it I'd say he needs a makeover." Aphrodite nodded, overjoyed, while Hephaestus just muttered something about hypocrites.

"**You-**_**will**_**-stay-here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

"At least he knows it's a monster too." Poseidon said in relief.

"**It's okay, man," I told him." Thanks for trying."**

"**Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "**_**Now**_**."**

Annabeth started squeezing Percy's hand in worry, even though she knew he got out safely.

**Nancy Bobofit smirked. I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

The demigods shivered despite the tension, remembering that fearsome glare while Percy rolled his eyes.

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently for me to come on.**

Poseidon paled a little.

**How'd she get there so fast? I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I knew I missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank piece behind it.**

For the first time Athena felt slight pity towards the Sea Spawn, being so confused.

**The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

"I wouldn't be so sure." Poseidon warned and Percy smiled at his protective father.

**I wasn't so sure.**

Everyone cracked a slight smile.

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

Everyone groaned, except for Ares and Dionysus, who grinned in excitement.

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner,**

"Mr. Brunner and I." Athena corrected automatically and Poseidon rolled his eyes.

**Like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in a novel.**

"Chiron!" Poseidon lamented.

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. Okay, I thought. She was going to make me buy a new t-shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

Thalia snorted, "You wish it were that easy."

"He can hope, can't he?" Annabeth said.

"But even I have to admit," Percy stated, "That was too much too ask for."

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

Thalia rolled her eyes.

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section. Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

"Splendid. Just _splendid_." Poseidon said sarcastically as Hestia glanced at Percy, concerned.

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

"It is growling you stupid boy!" Athena suddenly burst.

"Well, you wouldn't automatically think it was growling if you were still an ignorant 'mortal', oblivious to the world of gods and surrounded by mist!" Annabeth argued with her mother. Apollo, Hermes, Percy, Nico, and even _Hades_ chuckled.

"What's so funny?" She asked confused.

"You just gave a total complesult!" Nico exclaimed.

"A what now?" The daughter of Athena asked, confused for the first time.

"A mix of an insult and a complement. An insult meant to be a complement. It's like saying 'You're not fat anymore!' or 'Your hair doesn't look as bad as it usually does!'" Hades further explained with a smile on his face. "You just gave a complesult." **(A/N My sister does these and it's hilarious how oblivious she is!) **Annabeth shook her head in disbelief and turned towards Percy. He stopped chuckling, innocently shrugged his shoulders, and gave Annabeth a quick kiss. Satisfied, she continued, while Apollo and Hermes were wondering how he did it. Calmed a daughter of Athena down that quickly, that is.

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous.**

"At least you have good instincts." Athena grudgingly admitted and Poseidon beamed at her. When she smiled back, Aphrodite squealed. She knew they would never _love_ each other, but she'd settle for a new friendship.

**It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it…**

"What does 'pulverize' mean?" Apollo asked dumbly. Artemis whacked him on the head for interrupting, while Annabeth and Athena recited in harmony, "Pulverize. Verb. To reduce to fine particles. Informal meaning: defeat utterly." Athena smiled with pride at her daughter as Annabeth grinned back. Percy sighed endearingly and said, "Wise Girl."

"**You've been giving us problems, honey." She said.**

"Like father like son." Athena said bitterly. "Fish Face has been giving me problems for centuries now." Hera, Zeus, Hades, Artemis and Demeter laughed while Poseidon fumed. Then he smiled sweetly. "You would know, Bird Brain. All problems have causes. In this case, that would be you." Now Ares, Dionysus, Apollo, Hermes, and Hephaestus laughed.

**I did the safe thing.**

The demigods gasped loudly, causing their parents to look at them strangely.

**I said, "Yes ma'am." **

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. **

"Wow, you are ADHD. Why would you add that? You're about to be eaten!" Apollo exclaimed. Well, Hermes added that last part. Percy shrugged. "Ask the author, not me."

"**Did you really think you would get away with it?" The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil. She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

"Not only teacher. Lawyer too." Hades commented without thinking. Poseidon turned slowly to him.

"If this is her, Hades, I swear-"

"Oh, of course it's not, brother dear!" Hades said too quickly. "Well, look at the time! Time to feed Cerberus!" And he disappeared. **(A/N Review and let me know if he should stay gone, if Persephone should leave too, or if he should come back.)**

**I said, "I'll-I'll try harder, ma'am." Thunder shook the building.**

"Daa-aa-d." The children of Zeus cried, much to Hera's disgust.

"**We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said.**

"At least she didn't say honey." Nico pointed out.

"**It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

"Oh, well what a sweet offer!" Hermes said sarcastically.

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

"Of course you don't." Nico sighed.

"Like you knew anything when you got to camp." Percy and Annabeth defended at the same time. It was hard to tell whose cheeks were redder. Aphrodite giggled at the young love.

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm,**

Apollo, Hermes, Nico and Percy started to drool and Hermes snapped his fingers and bowls of candy appeared in front of each of them. Annabeth picked some candies out from Percy's bowl too, not to be left out.

**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on **_**Tom Sawyer **_**from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, actually make me read the book.**

Everyone burst out laughing, Hermes the most, as Athena looked scandalized. That was a _good _book, she thought **(A/N It actually is, I've read it being the nerd I am :P)**

"**Well?" She demanded.**

"**Ma'am, I don't…"**

"**Your time is up." She hissed.**

"Time is up?" Poseidon asked worriedly are he and the demigods paled.

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to like barbeque coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

"A fury!" Everyone shouted, some in worry, some in excitement.

"How dare he!" Poseidon shouted at Hades, "My own brother! I swear to – "

"Brother." Zeus stated with a calm façade. "I'm sure he apologizes in the future. But not only have we been told not to hurt one another, and it would be rash to punish him now for something his future self has done." Athena nodded her head in approval of her father's wise words.

"I will rest my judgment until later." Poseidon growled. The Thalia and Nico were in awe, but trying not to let it show. They never knew his first monster was a fury.

**Then things got even weirder.**

"HOW?!" Everyone shouted.

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in the front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

"Thanks for _that_ useless detail." Ares grumbled. The demigods just smirked, knowing he would eat his words soon.

"**What ho, Percy!" He shouted, and tossed the pen through the air. Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

The demigods took a sharp intake of breath, as did Hestia, Persephone, and Poseidon. Percy shook his head playfully at the demigods. He was right in front of them, after all. Of course he survived. But he knew that his friends did this because they cared, and he loved them for that.

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a bronze sword – Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always sued on tournament day.**

Ares's jaw dropped. "I want one!" He cried like a kid. "Hephaestus-"

"No."

"Poseidon-"

"No."

"… well… shoot…"

**Mrs. Dodds turned towards me with a murderous look in her eyes. My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

Ares scoffed. He received multiple glares that made him whimper.

"If you-" Thalia started

"Saw him now-" Nico continued.

"You would wet your pants." Annabeth finished, smirking. Percy smiled at his loyal friends. And people wondered why he would do anything for them.

**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

"Enough with the 'honey' thing!" Nico wailed.

**And she lunged straight at me.**

Poseidon's complexion was so pale he could rival Hades. Hestia looked concerned for the demigod, but knew from the confidence his friends had in him he would do well.

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally:**

"Run away?" Nico questioned. That would've been what he would've done before he realized he was a demigod.

**I swung the sword.**

Everyone chuckled at his instincts as Percy grinned sheepishly.

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if her body was made of water. **_**Hisss!**_

Athena cracked a smile at the water reference.

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan.**

Demeter cocked her head. "Well, that was an odd was of putting it."

**She exploded into a yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech**

Everyone was in a stupor (except for Dionysus, who wasn't paying attention, and Ares, who wouldn't show recognition). His first monster was a fury. And he was twelve. Percy blushed and took the book from Annabeth.

**And a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me. I was alone. There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

"Still affected by the mist?" Artemis asked. "Ignorant boys."

"My lady, I mean no disrespect. But you are more likely to be influenced by the mist if you don't want to remember what happened. Would you truly want to remember that twelve year olds experience?" Thalia defended her friend. Artemis reluctantly nodded, and Thalia smiled at her.

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me. My hands were still trembling.**

Ares rolled his eyes. Lucky for him, no one noticed.

**My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

Hermes's eyes lit up. Hera seeing this, stated firmly, "No. No magic mushrooms." Hermes pouted, and Apollo looked a little upset. _He _thought it was a good idea.

**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

"No." Everyone said.

"I know that now." Percy said.

**I went back outside. It had started to rain. Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked form her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

"Who?" Everyone, even Athena, asked, utterly confused.

**I said, "Who?"**

A smile form everyone, except Athena, Artemis, Ares, who looked appalled at thinking the same thing.

"**Our **_**teacher**_**. Duh!" I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr.**

"Good. You realize it." Poseidon nodded approvingly.

**I asked Nancy what she was talking about. She just rolled her eyes and turned away. I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was. He said, "Who?" But he paused at first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

"Aw, Grover!" Hermes whined.

"**Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

"Yes it is." Persephone added.

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

"Oh, what did he do _now _Zeus?" Poseidon asked, annoyed. Zeus merely shrugged his shoulders in reply.

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved. I went over to him. He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

"Now _Chiron _can _lie_!" Hermes applauded the centaur.

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it. "Sir," I said, "Where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

"**The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher." He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling alright?"**

"Woo! Go Chiron!" Hermes cheered.

"He's tricking my son!" Poseidon protested. "Don't applaud him Hermes! No, I said _don't_."

Before a fight broke out, Hestia quietly came over to the demigods and they all nodded their heads respectively at her.


	5. Chapter 5

**AGAIN, THE BOLDED LINES DON'T BELONG TO ME; THE BOOK THE CHARECTERS ARE READING BELONGS TO RICK RIORDAN, AS DO THE CHARECTERS READING THE BOOK.**

Before Hestia started reading, though, Hades flashed in. The demigods looked away as the gods looked on in annoyance, even Dionysus, for interrupting the book. When Hades turned to Poseidon, he stuttered, "Uh…er…um, hi?"

"Hello." Poseidon replied with an air of eerie calm. "Hestia, would you please start reading before I _rip off my brother's head_?" Hestia nodded and started reading in a hurry. **"Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death."** No one commented on the title. They had a feeling they would have to get used to the weird names.

**I was used to the occasional weird experience.**

"You better be." Thalia snorted.

**But usually they were over quickly. This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. **

Hermes grinned in appreciation.

**The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr – a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip – had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas. Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was a psycho. It got so I almost believed them**

"No." Poseidon said suddenly. "Don't believe them."

**Almost.**

Annabeth and Poseidon let out a breath of relief. Thalia looked confused. "So," she started, "there was a time where Kelp Head wasn't as gullible as he is now?" Percy stuck his tongue out at her and Thalia smirked. Annabeth shook her head playfully at the two cousins and hoped Hestia would start reading before Nico got involved.

**But Grover couldn't fool me. When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**

"Goat boy!" Thalia and Nico groaned. Hermes shook his head. "First thing after these books I order…" He waved his finger around, finally pointing to Nico, "_you_ to go teach him some lying/pranking skills. Got it?"

"Sir yes sir!" Nico replied with a salute. Hermes grinned smugly looking at Ares while he fumed. Why couldn't his kids salute him? It just wasn't fair…

**Something was going on. Something **_**had **_**happened at the museum.**

"_Finally _you realize, idiot boy!" Hades had wisely kept quite until now, but he couldn't contain this outburst. Poseidon glowed with rage. Litarally. A sea green aura now surrounded him. "Hades, if you say one more thing badmouthing my son, I _will _blow you to pieces, brother or not, immortal or not." Poseidon threatened.

"My lord, with much respect," Persephone interfered, "You will do no such thing. The note from the future said not to harm anyone, and you shall not harm my husband." Hades smiled gratefully at his wife as Poseidon sat back down reluctantly. Percy smiled at his protective father.

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wale me up in a cold sweat.**

The demigods shivered. Percy always did have the worst dreams, demigod dreams or not.

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help** **my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room.**

"Zeus…" Poseidon threatened and Hestia read on quickly to avoid conflict.

**A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we had studied in social studies was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

Hera raised her eyebrow at Poseidon and Demeter shook her head. "What are you two fighting about this time?" Aphrodite sighed. The brothers jut shrugged sheepishly while Hades put his head in his hands. He could only hope he was adopted.

**I was starting to feel cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs.**

Athena gasped and Annabeth did as well.

"I thought you said you at least got Cs!" Annabeth exclaimed.

"I will! This was when I was twelve." Percy defended. Annabeth pondered this and settled for just shaking her head at him while Athena scowled at him. Poseidon glared at the goddess.

**I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends.**

Ares grinned, hoping for a fight scene.

**I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.**

Ares kept grinning, much to Aphrodite's disgust as she clung to Hephaestus.

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was being too lazy to study for spelling tests,**

"Hmph, laziness has nothing to do with it, insolent boy." Artemis sniffed. Percy and his friends let it go, she was Artemis, they expected her to be like that. Thalia simply rolled her eyes playfully at her mistress and Artemis's gaze softened.

**I snapped.**

Nico, Hermes and Hades leaned forward in anticipation and Poseidon glanced at his son.

**I called him an old sot.**

Everyone burst out laughing.

"What does that-" Nico managed before he laughed again.

"Even-" Apollo continued, laughing.

"Mean?" Hermes said in a full out giggle. Everyone stopped and stared.

"Why are you laughing if you don't even… actually, never mind." Hestia said while she, Artemis and Athena rolled their eyes.

"By the way, my lords, it means old-" Annabeth started.

"Drunkard. Old drunkard." Dionysus finished. After another fit of laughter and some grumbling from Percy, the reading began again.

**I wasn't even sure what that meant, but it sounded good.**

"You sure he isn't one of your kids?" Hera said disdainfully as she looked wearily over to Apollo and Hermes.

"I wish!" They said in unison and Percy grinned at them before looking at his _real _dad and smiling. Needless to say, Poseidon beamed back.

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

Annabeth, Hestia, and Poseidon looked at him in sympathy as Thalia and Nico held in their laughter. Percy saw them and sent them a playful glare.

**Fine, I told myself, just fine. I was homesick.**

"Weakling." Ares muttered. Aphrodite glared at him. She had grown kinda fond of the boy. Hephaestus put his arm around her waist and nodded to Hestia to keep reading.

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to the public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

"But Mr. Blowfis isn't obnoxious…?" Nico looked at Percy.

"He's not my first stepfather." Percy answered evenly and the demigods decided not to push him. Poseidon looked confused at the mentions of his son's stepfathers.

**And yet… there were things I'd miss at Yancy.**

Thalia snorted. "I highly doubt that."

**The view of the woods outside my dorm window,**

Artemis got a far-away look in her eyes thinking of the wilderness and Hermes smiled, thinking of pan.

**The Hudson River in the distance,**

Poseidon and Percy shared a glance and smiled.

**The smell of the pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend**

"Aww." Persephone and Aphrodite sighed, as Aphrodite sniffled a bit. Hephaestus patted her back awkwardly while Ares watched the scene jealously.

**Even if he was a little strange.**

Persephone frowned, and Hades put his hand on her shoulder in hopes to comfort her.

**I'd miss latin class too- Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**

Poseidon and Hestia smiled. They had plenty of hope in him.

**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for.**

Athena gasped, scandalized.

**I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner hhad told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**

"Finally, the boy does something smart!" Artemis complained and Athena nodded her head whole-heartedly. Poseidon glared at them. "With all due respect, my ladies, I _do _have my moments." Percy said. Artemis looked at her lieutenant and Athena glanced at her daughter. They both shrugged. "He's not wrong." Nico stated begrudgingly. Hestia started reading again quickly.

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the **_**Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythologu **_**across my dorm room.**

Many gods and goddesses in the room gasped and glared. Athena, because he treated a wonderful book that way. Artemis, because only a boy would be that rash. And Ares glared at Percy. "Watch it punk", he growled, "That book has plenty of pictures of _me _in it, so you better start respecting it." Thalia interrupted, "Um, Lord Ares, you _do _realize that this happened when he was twelve and things have changed, right?" Apollo and Hermes snickered in the background.

**Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces.**

The demigods chuckled. "Bet ya you remember the difference now, don't you?" Nico teased. Percy laughed and wondered aloud if Charon ever got his new suit. "Not yet," Nico answered. Thalia was laughing as well, she was told of the stories. The gods and goddesses looked on in confusion. "Say whaaaat?" Apollo asked, utterly confused.

**And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.**

"It's easy." Athena stated disdainfully. Annabeth rolled her eyes, wondering when her mom would stop belittling her boyfriend.

**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.**

Hermes smiled mischievously and Zeus stated firmly, "NO."

**I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. **_**I will except only the best from you, Percy Jackson.**_

"Wow, talk about pressure." Apollo said.

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book. I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers.**

Athena's gaze softened a little bit. Maybe the boy had _some _potential.

**At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

Persephone, Hestia, and Aphrodite smiled. Hades grinned a bit when he saw his wife being happy. Aphrodite saw this and beamed at him. Hades' cheeks turned bright red.

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor. I was three steps away from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "… worried about Percy, sir."**

"Yeah, so are we." Thalia sighed and Nico nodded his head solemnly in agreement. Percy stuck his tongue out at them and moved closer to Annabeth, taking her hand. Aphrodite beamed at them.

**I froze.**

Hermes grinned.

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult. I inched closer. "… alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the **_**school**_**! Now that we know for sure, and **_**they **_**know too-"**

"**We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."**

Nico snorted. "Yeah, we're still waiting for _that _to happen". Percy shot back, "Oh, look who's talking, Death Breath."

"**But he may not have the times. The summer solstice deadline-"**

"**Will have to be resolves without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he can."**

"**Sir, he **_**saw **_**her…"**

"**His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."**

"**Sir, I… I can't fail my duties again."**

Thalia and Annabeth looked sad. "Does he _still _blame himself for that?" Thalia asked and Percy nodded slowly. Zeus was about to go on about how it _was _his fault… but he knew his daughter wouldn't like that. So for her sake, he kept his mouth shut.

**Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**

"**You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly.**

Thalia and Percy nodded.

"**I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall-" The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

Hermes shook his head, annoyed. "No no no no NO. NEVER compromise your position!" he wailed. Annabeth leaned towards Percy and whispered, "Don't worry, we all would've done the same thing at age twelve."

**Mr. Brunner went silent. My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall. A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.**

Athena looked stunned. Chiron was wise, he shouldn't be in his true form while undercover!

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside. A few seconds later I heard a slow **_**clop-clop-clop**_**, like muffled wood blocks, than a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.**

Hermes clapped. "Well done! An expert escape!" He pulled out a notebook to write something down. Aphrodite saw this and squealed. Loudly. Very _very _loudly. "HERMES! YOU CAN JOIN THE NOTEBOOK CLUB TOO! OMG, GUYS, WE SHOULD TOTES HAVE LIKE, A NOTEBOOK CLUB MEETING LIKE, EVERY DAY! WOULDN'T THAT BE AMAZING?!" Aphrodite gushed, making everyone clap their hands over their ears. Hephaestus eyed her warily. "Just… wonderful, dear." He said.

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck. Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Bruner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."**

"**Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn…"**

"**Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**

"**Don't remind me."**

"Ugh, wait, every time a satyr goes undercover in a school they have to study and do the tests and everything?" Nico asked, disgusted.

Percy nodded and added, "Yeah, That must suck." Apollo and Hermes looked disgusted at the thought.

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office. I waited in the dark for what seem like forever. Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm. Grover was laying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night. "Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?" I didn't answer. "You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

"**Just… tired." I turned so he couldn't read my expression and started getting ready for bed.**

"Idiot." Artemis said. "Satyrs can read emotions." Percy rolled his eyes. "My lady, did you honestly think I would know that before I even knew I was a demigod?" Annabeth hid he smile behind her hand and the corners of Nico's lips twitched upward. Hades grinned and Poseidon smiled at his son. Artemis didn't have an answer and fumed silently.

**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing. But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

**So since no one told me otherwise, I've decided to give you guys half of this chapter now since I haven't updated in so long. Liked? Didn't like? Tell me! Talk to me! Review review review! Reviews make me update much quicker!**

****Warning, slight rant ahead**I've been tempted to make Hermes mature in this fanfic. I mean, in all of the books, Rick R really showed the mature side of Hermes, with all his responsibillites, and his love for his son, and his anger when someone talked badly about his favorite son. Of course I'm still making him silly, he's the god of pranks and all that jazz, but idk, has anyone else ever thought that? See ya guys soon!**

****RiderWriter****


	6. Chapter 6

**Helllooooo! In answer to Avatarfanx2, I'm glad I'm not the only one, haha, and I totally get what you mean with the whole thing; I remember the story about Hermes stealing Apollo's cow, and how mature Apollo was. I'm thinking I'll continue making Hermes silly, because I've already begun… how about in other stories I write, like if I do a Sea of Monsters one, I can give him some character development? Sound good? **

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam-**

Hestia was cut off by a groan. Two groans. Three groans. Nico, Apollo, and Hermes wailed, "Oh dude, how are you alive?". Percy smirked and Annabeth grumbled, "That's what we'd all like to know, Seaweed Brain," think about all te times he'd almost died.

**My eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.**

"Uh-oh," was the general reaction.

**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**

Ares cocked an eyebrow. _The little punk needs to show me some _action_._ Thalia smiled, guessing what he was thinking. She was sure he'd be satisfied soon enough.

"**Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's… it's for the best."**

Everyone groaned. Dionysus added, "Chiron _is _the worst at pep-talks." Everyone stared at him, causing Dionysus to start acting defensive. They just couldn't believe he was actually listening…

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the tests could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**

Annabeth growled.

"Now that's just not nice. See if _she _ever gets an invitation to the notebook club," Aphrodite said with a pout and a _"hmph!"_

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**

"**I mean…" Mr Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time." My eyes stung.**

Ares scoffed, but was quickly silenced by numerous angery glares; which, surprisingly, included Hera. Although he was the result of Poseidon's unfaithfulness, Percy had won her over with his love for family and friends.

**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

"Surely, that wasn't what he meant," Poseidon protested.

"Nah, it's okay dad, Chiron's fine." Percy replied with a smile. Annabeth, Nico, and Thalia smirked, all thinking the same thing. _Of course they're fine, he's Chiron's favorite student!_ They weren't jealous though, not in the least. Percy deserved everything he earned.

"**Right." I said, trembling.**

"**No,no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say… You're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be-"**

"**Thanks," I blurted out. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."**

Hestia, Aphrodite, and Poseidon looked at Percy in sympathy. Annabeth leaned over to Percy and said, "Chiron was right about one thing though; being the best demigod in your generation is nothing to be ashamed about. Well, even if I _am _saving your butt half of the time." Percy laughed an Annabeth swiveled closer to Percy, causing Aphrodite's eyes to bug out and Athena's mouth to turn into a frown.

"**Percy-" But I was already gone. On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase. The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. On of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland.**

Artemis nodded. "Switzerland is wonderful." For once, Aphrodite agreed with the moon goddess.

**Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me,**

Dionysus smiled. _At least he finally admit it_.

**but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebraties. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

"Your father for sure, boy. But his uncle… well, nobody **dares** call the _King of the Gods_ a _nobody_." Zeus boomed. Nearly everyone rolled their eyes at his theatrics, except Apollo, who interrupted, "Also, his cousin… you can't get awesomer than me."

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city. What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

A smile spread on the demigods' faces. "Bet you didn't end up doing what you thought you would." Thalia teased Percy, to the confusion of the gods.

"**Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool." Then they went back to their conversation as if I'd never exsisted.**

Hestia frowned. "Poor boy." Persephone murmured so that only she and Hestia could hear.

**The obly person I dreaded saying goodbye to was Grover, but as ti turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**

Thalia smiled, thinking of their friend, then frowned as Zeus grumbled something about "useless satyrs".

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he's always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

"Oohhhhhhh." Hermes said, wiggling his arms for 'special effect'.

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore. I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**

Nico burst out laughing. "That'll scare him! Oh, Perce, you never fail me!" Percy smiled as he recalled Grover's face.

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat.**

Hades lips curved upward in a small grin. He was glad his minions were so well-respected.

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam. **

"Why would you do that!? I had hope for you, Jackson. I really did." Hermes said, with Nico and Apollo nodding, disappointed. Percy rolled his eyes as Annabeth laughed lightly and Thalia said, with a glare, "Don't worry. He's gotten _plenty _better at lying," causing Percy to look at her with a sheepish grin. "Oops?" At this point Almost the entire council was laughing now, except for Athena and Hades, who decided not to engage in such childish manners.

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?**

"**Oh… not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**

Annabeth chuckled. "Yeah, you know, just the entire thing!"

Hermes let out a sigh of relief. "There's hope for you yet."

**He winced. "Look, Percy… I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers…"**

"Too late!" Sang Thalia and Artemis. The goddess grinned at her future lieutenant. She has chosen well, it seemed.

"**And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and…"**

"**Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."**

"I AGREE!" Everyone shouted.

**His ears turned pink. From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer." The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes,**

Zeus sighed. "Dionysus, what have we told you about the cards?" Dionysus smiled innocently, "I was never told of such a problem, _father_." **(A/N Wow he just sounded really evil, oops)**

**But I finally made out something like: Grover Underwood. Keeper. Half-Blood Hill, Long Island, New York. (800) 009-0009.**

"**What's Half-"**

"**Don't say it aloud!" He yelped.**

"Very subtle." Hephaestus commented with a roll of his eyes.

"**That's my, um… summer address." My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the other at Yancy.**

"Wrong again, boy." Athena said smugly. Annabeth shot her mother a pointed look, annoyed.

"**Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."**

**He nodded. "Or… or if you need me."**

"**Why would I need you?"**

"That was a bit harsh, Percy." Persephone said with a disappointed look. "It came out harsher than I meant it to, Lady Persephone." Percy said, with Annabeth nodding. "Percy rarely hurts someone's feelings, especially on purpose."

**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

Nico and Hades chuckled. When Hera asked them why, they both said simultaneously, "He repeated himself!" and continued chuckling. No one in that room thought they would ever see the Lord of the Underworld… giggle.

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, percy, the truth is, I-I kind of have to protect you." I stared at him.**

Hestia was interrupted by Ares… who had started snoring. When awoken, he grumbled, "What? Can you blame me? This little guy's got the most boring life _ever_."

Suddenly the demigods chuckled. Then burst out in full-on hysterics. The thought that Percy had a boring life… it was more than enough to draw laughs. The gods looked confused… Ares especially. They considered asking what was so funny, but decided not.

**All year long, I'd gotton in fights,**

Ares perked up.

**Keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up net year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me.**

Hera smiled at him. He truly was a great friend; he would definitely have a spot in her perfect family. Sensing what she was thinking, Hephaestus scowled.

"**Grover," I said, "What exactly are you protecting me from?" There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured form the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.**

"'Cause that's not ominous at all." Nico grumbled.

"Look who's talking, 'Prince of Ghosts." Thalia retorted playfully.

**After a few minutes of clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else. We were on a stretch of country road – no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there.**

Artemis and Hermes frowned. All nature should be admired…

**On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars.**

A few people made annoyed noises when they heard that.

**On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**

Hades thought that sounded familiar… though an old fruit stand could host anything. Better to not jump to conclusions.

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-footed tub full of ice.**

Hades relaxed. It didn't sound like what he thought it was. Until he heard the next line, and froze.

**There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**

Annabeth and Athena gasped. How was Percy alive?

**I mean, these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn. All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.**

"THE FATES!" Everyone screamed. Poseidon looked as pale as death, who happened to be sitting next to him, so comparison was easy. _It was just a coincidence, they never cut the string_ was the mantra Poseidon was chanting over and over.

**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**

"Oh, Gods." Thalia muttered.

**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching. "Grover?" I said. "Hey, man-"**

"**Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

"**Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

Hermes shook his head.

"Not funny, Perseus." Poseidon said. He loved his son; he was hoping for the best.

"**Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**

Apollo was about to guffaw and tell Poseidon how he must be half-goat, when Poseidon shot him a look that told him he wasn't in the mood.

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors – gold and silver, long bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath. "We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**

Athena shook her head gravely. "It won't help." Poseidon glared at her.

"**What? It's a thousand degrees in there!"**

"**Come on!" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.**

"Seaweed Brain, you're too stubborn for your own good." Annabeth exclaimed.

**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic.**

And the Olympus exploded.

The demigods were yelling, "PERSEUS JACKSON! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US!?" Athena was looking at him with… was that sympathy. No youth deserved that fate, not even spawn of the sea. Poseidon was in shock, overcome by sadness, but telling himself that it would be alright, his son was right before him. The king of the gods, Hades, and Dionysus looked indifferent, and the other gods had different reactions ranging from shock, anger, or slight sympathy.

**Her friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me to wonder who they could possibly be for – Sasquatch or Godzilla.**

Apollo chuckled weakly and Percy smiled reassuringly to everyone in the room.

**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chuck of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared to life. The passengers cheered.**

"You're welcome." Hermes, the god of travelers, said.

"**Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!" Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**

Poseidon began to worry again. What if he had been wrong? What if his son had been brought back to life for the purpose of reading the books. No. No no no. Percy looked at his dad and saw his distress. Distress that was immediately calmed when Percy looked at him, smiled, and shook his head. He didn't die.

**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering. "Grover?"**

"**Yeah?"**

"**What are you not telling me?"  
"Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

"**You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like… Mrs. Dodds, are they?" His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds.**

"You were right about one thing, punk." Ares muttered.

**He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**

"**The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn." He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost… older.**

Athena's eyebrows rose. _Quite observant for a child of the sea._

**He said, "You saw her snip the cord."**

"**Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**

"Try _huge _deal." Annabeth murmured, making Percy clasp her hand. It was all Aphrodite could do not to squeal aloud.

"**This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like last time."**

"**What last time?"**

Annabeth and Thalia winced.

"**Always sixth grade. They never get past the sixth."**

Hephaestus snorted. "Way to make the kid calm down."

"**Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**

"**Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me." This seemed like a strnage request to me, but I promised he could. "Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**

Zeus huffed, "Do I look like a superstition to you, _boy_?" Percy sighed. The demigods rang out:

"Zeus, I was _twelve._"

"Dad, he was twelve."

"Lord Zeus, he was only _twelve_."

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, right, he was only eleven." The others sighed at Nico's absentmindedness.

**No answer. "Grover – that snipping of the ysrn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"**

"How did you know that?" Artemis questioned.

"I'm naturally brilliant." Was Percy's answer (**A/N Anyone who tells me what Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus book that was from gets a shoutout next chapter!)**

**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**

"Well, aren't you a little pessimist!" Aphrodite pouted. Ignoring her, Athena noted Hestia's sudden silence and asked, "Next chapter?"

"Next chapter. Who would like to read?"

"Ooh! Ooh! I do, I do!" Apollo squealed with his hand high in the air. Hestia handed it to him with a smile and returned to tending to the fire.

**Alright! Who liked it? Who didn't like it? Lemme know! Suggestions, comments, questions, rants, flames, your favorite color? The review box is right down there, all it takes is one click! Hint: I update a loooottt quicker if I get reviews! Can we try to get it to… say, 10 reviews before I post the next chapter? Thanks guys!**

****RiderWriter****


	7. Chapter 7

"**Grover unexpectedly loses his pants"** Apollo read, then proceeded to crack up.

"Just read." Hera said with an exasperated sigh.

**Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal.**

"Rude." Artemis scoffed.

**I know, I know. It was rude.**

Artemis reddened.

**But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, muttering, "Why does this always happen?" and "Why is it always have to be sixth grade?"**

"Yeaaaahhh… I would ditch him too…" Nico said with Hermes nodding.

**Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up,**

"TMI." Aphrodite said, making a face.

**So I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off of the bus, he made me promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom. Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown. "East One-hundred-and-fourth and First" I told the driver.**

Apollo, Hermes, Nico, and Thalia grinned evilly. Before they could say anything, however, Percy said, "Don't bother. We moved."

**A word about my mother, before you meet her. Her name is Sally Jackson and she's**

"Amazing"

"Awesome"

"Kind"

"Generous"

"Perfect," Poseidon chimed in.

**The best person in the world, which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck.**

Poseidon frowned. When he had left her, she had been happy… what had changed?

**Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five, and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her.**

Percy looked towards Hades and Zeus. "Remind you of anyone, _uncles_?"

**She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program.**

Athena beamed. "I like this mortal. Pity she took a liking to you, Poseidon."

**Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him.**

Persephone and Hestia smiled, despite the circumstances. "She certainly is a kind woman."

**After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.**

Everyone frowned.

**The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.**

Aphrodite squealed. "THAT'S SO _CUTEEEE_!"

**I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile.**

"He visited you?" Annabeth whispered, addressing Percy.

"Well, Poseidon isn't like other gods, is he?" Percy replied.

"Fair enough." Annabeth said with a grin and gave him a peck on the cheek.

**My mom doesn't like to talk about him because it makes her sad. She has no pictures.**

_It was for the best. It was for the best_. Poseidon kept repeating in his head.

**See, they weren't married.**

Hera glared at Poseidon.

**She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret.**

"Ohh lala!" Aphrodite exclaimed.

**Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back. Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.**

Hermes raised his eyebrows, impressed at her excuse.

**She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got made. Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.**

Thalia snorted. "Understatement of the century," she muttered.

**Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano,**

"Who?" Nico, Thalia, and Poseidon asked. Nico and Thalia had only known Paul, whereas Poseidon didn't even know she remarried.

"My… ex-stepfather." Percy managed to say. Annabeth squeezed his hand in reassurance.

**Who was nice the first thirty second we knew him, then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk.**

Percy clenched his fists as the wheels in Athena's brain were turning, trying to figure out why Sally would marry him.

**When I was young, I nicknamed him Smelly Gabe. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked of garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.**

Athena gasped. She had figured it out.

**Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated her, and the way he and I got along… well, when I came home is a pretty good example.**

Poseidon's brow furrowed. What was his son implying?

**I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.**

Artemis wrinkled her nose. "Pig," she said.

**Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."**

"**Where's my mom?"**

"**Working," he said. "You got any cash?"**

Persephone scowled. "That was rude."

**That was it. No **_**welcome back. Good to see you. How was your life for the past six months**_**?**

Annabeth shook her head. He'd told her about his stepfather.

**Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tuskless walkrus in thrift-store clothes.**

"Uhhh… what?" Apollo said.

**He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something.**

"Ewwww!" Aphrodite squealed, making Artemis roll her eyes.

**He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. I don't know why he hadn't been fired long before. He just kept collecting paychecks, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous, and on beer, or course. Always beer.**

Poseidon growled.

**Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds. He called that our "guy secret". Meaning, if I told my mom, he'd punch my lights out.**

"Wait… what?" Thalia asked.

Apollo re-read the sentence.

Nico growled as a black aura formed around him, and electricity crackled around Thalia in their anger. The ground shook violently, and everyone turned to Poseidon, who was demonstrating his abilities as the "Earth Shaker". Percy managed a weak smile. "Hey, guys, listen. Its… its fine, really. I have a great family now. That was the past. Plus, don't worry; the guy got what he deserved."

Artemis raised an eyebrow at him, wondering when was the last time she witnessed a male being this mature. Hestia had tears gleaming in her eyes and Hera's face was contorted with anger. Ares, on the other hand, looked gleeful, and Hephaestus and Dionysus were indifferent.

"Trust me. Just… just keep reading." Percy said. Annabeth gripped his hand tight and smiled at him.

"**I don't have any cash," I told him. He raised a greasy eyebrow. Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell covered up everything else.**

"Ahhhh" said most of the gods in realization of why they kept Gabe around. Apollo and Ares were left in the dark, still not realizing it.

**You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. "Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change."**

The entire council sat with their jaws dropped, flabbergasted.

"Well… as much as I hate to say it… it seems the walrus has a brain." Zeus said, drawing laughs.

"**Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?" Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. "Come on, Gabe," he said. "The kid just got here."**

Hestia and Aphrodite smiled in encouragement.

"**Am I **_**right**_**?" Gabe repeated. Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.**

Hestia frowned and Aphrodite sniffed in disdain.

"**Fine," I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose."**

Dionysus, to everyone's surprise, grinned and said, "You can bet on it." Then, to everyone's confusion, Apollo burst out in maniacal laughter. "AHAHAHA. GET IT? GAMBLING? HE SAID, 'YOU CAN _BET _ON IT!'" No one really knew what to say to that…

"**Your report card came, brain boy!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!" I slammed the door to my room, which wasn't really my room. During school months, it was Gabe's "study". He didn't study anything here except old car magazines, but he loved shoving his stuff in my closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer.**

Aphrodite looked disgusted, and Ares looked excited; there would be a fight soon, he could tell.

**I dropped my suitcase on the bed. Home sweet home.**

Hermes smiled. Sarcasm: a favorite of his. "Gotta love Percy's sarcasm even when he's upset." Thalia teased.

"Please, Percy's at his sassiest _especially _when he's upset." Annabeth contradicted, with Nico saying, "True, true." Percy laughed at his friend's antics. "Come on, I'm not _that _bad, am I?" he asked.

"YES!" They all chorused back, to the amusement of the gods.

**Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds, or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn**

Hades himself shuddered involuntarily. No one could blame him; no one had ever escaped the fate they were given by the… fates **(A/N: Wonder where the Greeks got that clever name from ;) )**

**But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak, I remembered Grover's look of panic – how he'd made me promise that I wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like a someone – something – was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long talons.**

Annabeth grinned, "You had quite the imagination for a twelve year old, Seaweed Brain."

Percy raised an eyebrow, causing Annabeth to rethink her statement. "Uh… it _was_ your imagination, correct?"

**Then I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?"**

Annabeth rolled her eyes and playfully nudged Percy, causing him to chuckle and Athena to restrain her mother's instinct, which was to keep her child away from boys; _especially _sea spawn.

**She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.**

Poseidon beamed; everyone would finally meet her.

**My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room.**

The demigods smiled. She did have that effect on people… Hera's mouth also curved upwards, ever so slightly. This was a good mother – a mother every mom should be.

**Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt.**

Athena thought about that comparison, which she had surprisingly never heard before… also shockingly, she liked it…

Poseidon had other things on his mind. Like how much he missed Sally.

**She's got a few grey streaks mixed streaks mixed in with her long brown hair,**

Aphrodite thought that this was unacceptable for a woman of Sally's quality (**A/N: That makes Sally sound like a toy, oops)**. She opened up her notebook, flipping to a blank page, and carefully wrote down: After reading the book, Sally Jackson needs grey hair removal. Remember to give her your blessing.

**But I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's all the good things about me, none of the bad. I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe.**

Ares looked, even though he was put off by her peacekeeping, impressed by her self-control.

"**Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!"**

Annabeth looked Percy up and down, frowning. "Worried he's finally taller than you, Annabeth?" Nico teased.

"Oh, like you're one to talk, Di Angelo." She said, blushing.

**Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She's brought me a huge bag of "free samples," the way she always did when I came home.**

Apollo looked at Percy, attempting puppy dog eyes. "Don't look at me," Percy said, "I was the receiver, not the giver."

**We sat together on the edge of my bed. While I attackted the blueberry sour strings, she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn't put in my letters. She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that.**

Percy snorted. "Happened enough times," Artemis added.

**But was I okay? Was her little boy doing alright?**

Percy blushed a bit but didn't look the least bit ashamed. Artemis cooed and Artemis' eyes sofetened – just a bit. "Mama's boy," coughed Ares… then, after being on the receiving end of multiple death stares, the war god himself shut his mouth.

**I told her she was smothering me, and o lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her. From the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally-how about some bean dip, huh?"**

Demter scowled **(A/N: WOW, seriously forgot about her, sorry guys.)**. "Why not just fix some cereal?"

**I gritted my teeth. My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe.**

Poseidon felt guilty; he hadn't known about Gabe. Otherwise, he would have taken her to safety in his castle, ancient rules be damned.

**For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Acadamy. I told her I wasn't too down about the expulsion. I'd lasted almost the whold year this time. I'd made some new friends. I'd done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy Acadamy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself. I started chocking up, think about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad.**

Thalia shook her head in a way that said _I doubt that_.

**Until that trip to the museum…**

"**What?" my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my conscience, trying to pull out the secrets. "Did something scare you?"**

"**No, mom."**

Demeter rolled her eyes, and Artemis scoffed something about 'male pride'.

**I felt bad lying. I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn. But I thought it would sound stupid.**

"You thought wrong, boy." Hephaestus grumbled, with Athena nodding in agreement.

**She pursed her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me. "I have a surprise for you," she said. "We're going to the beach."**

**My eyes widened. "Montauk?"**

Poseidon's eyes brightened… Sally still remembered? After all these years?

"Why Montauk?" Athena asked.

"You'll see." Percy answered mischievously.

"**Three nights-same cabin."**

"**When?"**

**She smiled. "As soon as I get changed." I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk for the last two summers, because Gabe said there wasn't enough money. Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?"**

Artemis growled. How _dare_ he treat a woman like that. Men like _this _were why she became a maiden.

**I wanted to punch him, but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal:**

Hermes rubbed his hands together and leaned forward in anticipation.

**Be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here.**

Ares groaned.

"**I was on my way, honey," she told Gabe. "We were just talking about the trip." Gabe's eyes got small.**

"Almost as small as his brain." Percy muttered causing the demigods to chuckle.

"**The trip? You mean you were serious about that?"**

"**I knew it," I muttered. "He won't let us go."**

"**Of course he will," my mom said evenly.**

Ares grudgingly let go of his hate for the kind Mrs. Jackson. He had to admit it: she had courage.

"**Your step father is just worried about money. That's all. Besides," she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works."**

**Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip… it comes out of your clothes budget, right?"**

Aphrodite started hyperventilating. Everyone looked at Zeus, wondering who was more dramatic.

"**Yes, honey," my mother said.**

"**And you won't take my care anywhere but there and back."**

"He would never know…" Apollo said.

"**We'll be very careful." Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip… and maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game." Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week.**

_Everyone _in the room exchanged glances with an evil smile on their faces.

**But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad. Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought? "I'm sorry," I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please get back to it right now." Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement. **

"**Yeah, whatever," he decided.**

The council burst out laughing.

**He went back to his game. "Thank you, Percy," my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about… whatever you're forgotten to tell me, okay?" For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes-the same fear I'd seen in Grover during the bus ride-as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air. But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip. **

**An hour later we were ready to leave. Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car. He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking-and more important, his '78 Camaro-for the whole weekend. **

"**Not a scratch on this car, brain boy,"**

"He's not brain boy." Athena stated snarkiliy.

"Exactly! Wait, no fair!" Percy said

**He warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little scratch."**

Zeus snorted.

"He wouldn't be driving." An exasperated Hades said.

**Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve. But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me.**

**Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something I couldn't explain as Gabe reached the doorway. I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe. The sceen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the stairs like he'd been shot from a cannon.**

"Woah, man! You have to teach me!" Nico begged.

Percy scratched his head. "I… I don't know, Nico… that was years ago." Nico pouted.

**Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, but I didn't stay long enough to fin out. I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.**

**Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets,**

"Why weren't there spiders there when I visited?" Annabeth said thoughtfully.

"I cleaned it for you, Wise Girl, so you wouldn't have a panic attack."

"Wow, Bethy, he really does love you!" Thalia said.

"Yeah, Percy, cleaning? Who would've known!" Nico continued. Annabeth ignored them; she already knew how amazing her boyfriend was. But… " Thalia Grace. What. Did. You. Call. Me?" Thalia paled, grabbed the book from Apollo's hands, and started reading in a rush.

**And most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in. I loved the place. We'd been going there ever since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why to beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad.**

"Eeeek!" Aphrodite shrieked. "Poseidon's got a _cruuush, _Poseidon's got a _cruuush_!" She sang.

"Poseidon's got a _wife_, that's what he has." Hera said stiffly, making Poseidon bluf on both accounts. But he was too happy to be bothered. Sally visited.

**As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to be growing younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the ocean. We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through out usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and lunched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought along from work.**

"That's a lot of blue food…" Zeus commented.

**I guess I should explain the blue food.**

"Please do."

**See, Gabe had once told my mom that there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blu food. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blur-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop. This-along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano-**

Aphrodite crinkled her nose. "Doesn't really have a ring to it, does it?"

**Was proof that she wasn't toally suckered to Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.**

Artemis admired this woman. She wished she'd known her younger so she could have recruited her to the hunters…

**When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop.**

Athena's eyes shined; she had taken a liking to this mortal as well.

**Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk-my father. Mom's eyes went all misty I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them.**

"**He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome ,and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes."**

Everyone smiled. Most noticeably, Percy and his father, reunited again.

**Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be proud." I wondered how she could say that. Wht was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.**

Poseidon looked at his son. "Percy, I _am _proud of you. I always have been, and always will be." Percy beamed; his father truly was a great dad.

"**How old was I?" I asked. "I mean… when he left?"**

A great sadness filled Poseidon's eyes, which did not go unnoticed.

**She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin."**

"**But… he knew me as a baby."**

"**No, honey. He knew that I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born." I tried to square that with the fact that I seems to remember… something about my father. A warm glow. A smile. I had always assured he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true.**

"It is." Poseidon said quietly.

**Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me… I felt angry at my father. Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry mom. He'd left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe.**

Seeing the guilt in Poseidon's eyes and his mouth opening, Percy interrupted him. "Dad, don't worry. I understand now." He answered with a warm smile.

"**Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?" She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.**

"**I don't know, honey." Her voice was heavy. "I think… I think we'll have to do something."**

"**Because you don't want me around?"**

"Percy…" Persephone trailed off.

**I regretted the words as soon as they were out.**

Persephone recognized this with a nod of her head.

**My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I-I **_**have**_** to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away."**

Percy looked guilty… he had forgotten about the pain in his mom's eyes.

**Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said-that it was best for me to leave Yancy.**

"**Because I'm not normal," I said.**

"**You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy. But you don't realize how important you are."**

"Still don't." Annabeth admitted shaking her head.

"**I though Yancy Acadamy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe."**

"**Safe from what?"**

**She met my eyes and a flood of memories came back to me-asll the weird, scary things that had ever happened to me, some of which I'd tried to forget.**

**During third grade a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground. When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no on believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man had only one eye, right in the middle of his head.**

"I sent a guardian." Poseidon said simply before Zeus could question him.

**Before that-a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me into a cot that a snake had slithered into. My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands.**

Everyone was awed, but they were also thinking the same thing: _Just like Hercules_.

**In every single school, something creepy had happended, something unsafe, and I was forced to move. I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the art museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword. But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the new would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want to do that.**

"Wimp." Ares scoffed. Everyone ignored him, except Annabeth, who whispered playfully, "You know, that actually wasn't very smart, Seaweed Brain."

**I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could," my mom said. "they told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy-the place your father wanted to send you. And I just… I just can't stand to do it."**

**:My father wanted me to go to a special school?"**

"**Not a school," she said softly. "A summer camp."**

"WOOP WOOP." Chanted the demigods. "CAMP HALF-BLOOD!"

**My head was spinning. Why would my dad-who hadn't even stayed around long enough to see me born-talk to my mom about a summer camp? And if it was so important, why hadn't she ever mentioned it before? "I'm sorry, Percy," she said, seeing the look in my eyes. "But I cant talk about it I-I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good."**

"Wellll… now he's _really _not going to want to go." Dionysus grumbled, trying to look upset but failing miserably.

"**For good? But if it's only a summer camp…" She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry. **

**That night I had a vivid dream.**

"That sucks, Perce." Thalia said.

"You _do _have the worst dreams, Percy." Annabeth said, wincing.

**It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf.**

The gods paused. Zeus and Poseidon, fighting? Nothing out of the ordinary. But nothing about this book seemed ordinary. Fighting to the death?

**The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagle's wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.**

The gods were puzzled… Hades? But it didn't seem like him to interfere so directly with his siblings…

**I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion.**

_Slow motion_. Wheels started turning in Athena's head… the answer was almost there, but for once she didn't have an answer.

**I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide open eyes, and I screamed, **_**No!**_

"HA! I win, brother!" Zeus gloated.

Poseidon rolled his eyes. "It never said you made the hit, Zeus."

**I woke with a start. Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery.**

**With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane."**

Hera rolled her eyes at her husband and brother.

**I knew that was cazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten. Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end.**

_Uh-oh_ was going on in most everyone's head.

**Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice-someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door. My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock.**

Everyone sat that the edge of their seats in anticipation.

**Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't… he wasn't exactly Grover.**

Ares raised an eyebrow. What?

"**Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?" My mother looked at me in terror-not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.**

"**Percy," she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?" I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.**

"_**O Zeu kai alloi theoi**_**!" he yelled. "It's right behind me! Didn't you **_**tell **_**her?"**

"No." Demeter grumbled.

**I was too shocked to register that he's just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him perfectly. I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on-and where his legs should be…where his legs should be…**

"What about his legs?" Athena asked impatiently.

**My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: " **_**Percy**_**. Tell me **_**now**_**!" I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom stared at me, her face pale in the flashes of lightning. **

"_Busted_," Apollo and Hermes sang.

**She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. **_**Go!**_**" Grover ran for the Camaro-but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked. Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.**

"Finally figured it out, boy?" Athena jeered.

Annabeth glared at her mother passionately. "_Enough_, mother!" she finally said. Sensing the thick tension between the mother and daughter, Hestia intervened and asked who would like to read. Hephaestus raised his hand, "I may as well read at least once." He cleared his throat, and began.

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**Alright! Can you tell it was rushed? I can. But, as always, reviews are welcomed! I don't like to be the person that begs for reviews, but I think we can all agree it's definitely helpful to see what people think of your story. So, like, dislike, comments, tips, anything, the box is down there! Let's see if we can get ten more reviews for the next chapter! Thank you all!**

****RiderWriter****


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